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pleasestopasking@reddthat.com to Showerthoughts@lemmy.world · 3 months ago

Microplastics will be the "boomers all have lead poisoning" of millennials

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Microplastics will be the "boomers all have lead poisoning" of millennials

pleasestopasking@reddthat.com to Showerthoughts@lemmy.world · 3 months ago
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  • reddig33@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Millennials? More like GenX. We’ve been eating out of microwaved tupperware since the sixties.

    • SpruceBringsteen@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      So have the millennials who were breast fed.

      • piecat@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        And formula fed

        • Midnight Wolf@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Mmmm, tasty math.

      • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        The worst part: postpartum women have lower levels of microplastics than other adults.

        • dickalan@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          So you’re saying the baby took some of the plastic out of them, that’s horribly depressing at least they got 10 to 15 point IQ boost in return

          • silasmariner@programming.dev
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            3 months ago

            Might be that. Although your body goes into absolute overdrive during pregnancy, and it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that some of the immune system reactions that kick in manage to eject some level of plastic microparticulates

            • dickalan@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              Seems Like something people should be definitely looking into to find out why, with the state of science in America It’s probably not going to be here

              • silasmariner@programming.dev
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                3 months ago

                I’ve thought more about it. I bet there’s fucking loads in the placenta.

                • anomnom@sh.itjust.works
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                  3 months ago

                  That was my question too, I wonder if there is a reliable way to measure where it all went, or if it’s just diluted in the increased blood volume.

                  There’s also the possibility that with are more careful with their intake during pregnancy, but that could be controlled for in survey data.

              • Alaik@lemmy.zip
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                3 months ago

                Most likely its the same reason blood donation lowers microplastic levels in blood. Production of new cells that aren’t tainted with it. A woman’s blood volume increases by 40% during pregnancy. Of course ill freely admit thats just a hypothesis and you’re probably right, there would be benefit into studying it.

        • Headofthebored @lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          I was reading somewhere you can lower the level of PFAS in your blood by donating it.

    • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      It looks like the cumulative total of plastics produced by the 80’s was around 2-3 trillion billion tons, whereas now it’s probably more like 20-30B.

      https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/global-plastics-production.png

  • sandwich.make(bathing_in_bismuth)@sh.itjust.works
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    3 months ago

    Yeah and also for Gen X, Gen Z, Gen Alpha. We all still alive and everybody gets microplastic in their balls and brains. Its for all ages

    • bean@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Right? Haha 😂 Oh did we suddenly clean up the entire Earth from free roaming microplastics?

    • make -j8@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      why the alpabet suddenly changes after Z? it should either be “omega & alpha” or “z & a”

      • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        Same reason we started with X, millennials actually got a name, and then went back to Z. Somebody with a head full of lead came up with it.

        • iglou@programming.dev
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          3 months ago

          Millenials are also called Gen Y. Millenials just happens to have sticked more. And Gen Z is also called Zoomers.

          • WIZARD POPE💫@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            Well zoomer comes from the z. Does it not?

            • dubble_deee@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              It also comes from ‘boomer’, some names tend to stick.

        • _edge@discuss.tchncs.de
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          3 months ago

          brain full of lead and microplastic

      • sandwich.make(bathing_in_bismuth)@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        Generation Omega sounds like some real dystopian plot

        • Aitolda@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Or a 1970s political thriller.

  • RonnieB@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    deleted by creator

  • wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works
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    3 months ago

    Bold of you to think that the microplastic is going to go away after one generation…

    • pleasestopasking@reddthat.comOP
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      3 months ago

      Who said that? Lead poisoning is still rampant in some communities.

      • I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        I think the question is, why are you bringing up millennials when the issue of microplastics did not start with them, nor will it end with them.

    • dzsimbo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 months ago

      I mean most others will skip out on the toothpaste variant, but yeah, it’s out there like that kraftwerk song.

  • starlinguk@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    The pipes in the US still contain plenty of lead. Also, Covid brain damage. Tons of it.

    • blujan@sopuli.xyz
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      3 months ago

      Most lead intoxication in boomers comes from leaded gasoline, lead in other presentations is less bio-available

  • roofuskit@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Microplastics cause neurological damage and anti social violent behavior?

    • pleasestopasking@reddthat.comOP
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      We don’t know about the longer term consequences yet, just like we didn’t about lead.

      Not saying it’s a definite but I wouldn’t be surprised.

      • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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        deleted by creator

        • CommanderCloon@lemmy.ml
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          3 months ago

          To play devil’s advocate, we always knew lead was toxic, but we didn’t know the only healthy dose was 0

        • Default Username@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          Yes, but plastic is a very new invention and a lot less studied than something like Pb or Hg, which are natural elements.

          • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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            deleted by creator

            • Default Username@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              Not sure where I said natural = better. All I said was natural things are generally more studied because they existed for lot longer.

              • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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      • chunes@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Plastic has been around for 80 years. Shouldn’t we know something by now

        • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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          deleted by creator

      • Auli@lemmy.ca
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        But we know plastic is inert and we knew about lead.

    • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
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      We are just beginning to understand how much the chemical Imbalances that lead to depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders originate in the digestive tract and how microplastics from food may disrupt the processing of these chemicals.

    • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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      I don’t think the impacts of microplastics are quite as catastrophic, they can’t be or we would already know.

      Which isn’t to say they aren’t bad just damn lead is realllly bad.

      • piecat@lemmy.world
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        The concentration of them is rising exponentially, that’s the part that terrifies me.

        It’s possible we just haven’t crossed a threshold yet.

    • Carvex@lemmy.world
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      My non-professional guess is that microplastics will eventually sterilize us by disrupting our sperm’s ability to function properly. Only the wealthy can afford the medical procedures to bypass this.

      • Kühlschrank@lemmy.world
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        It’ll end up blocking vital neurotransmitters leaving us zombified and giving us an insatiable craving for brains

  • Iceman@lemmy.world
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    I wonder what our neurosises will be.

    • TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world
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      Depression, I would say. Same as how boomers are labeled as uncaring and sociopathic because of lead.

      • Scott_of_the_Arctic@lemmy.world
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        The depression is a natural byproduct of civilization. We’re not supposed to sit in concrete boxes and do meaningless tasks for survival. It makes us sad.

      • P00ptart@lemmy.world
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        The sociopath part, I think, is likely because they grew up in the easiest time in history.

        • Aitolda@lemmy.world
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          As an Elder Millenial/Xennial I was lucky enough to make it to adulthood just before it got complicated. Unfortunately we’re talking months.

          • P00ptart@lemmy.world
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            Samesies.

    • conicalscientist@lemmy.world
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      I think it’s more physiological. Since microplastics are ingested maybe it’s related to the rise in oral and rectal cancers.

  • thegr8goldfish@startrek.website
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    I’m crazy. Mark My Words. In 20 years, we’ll have so many microbes capable of consuming plastic people will be bitching about their packages not being able to effectively protect their goods from spoiling. The goldfish has spoken.

    • count_dongulus@lemmy.world
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      I’ve run across at least three separate articles now of researchers from across the world discovering plastic eating bacteria in the wild. Short plastic. Its days are numbered.

      • JoshuaFalken@lemmy.world
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        Based solely on your comment, I’m looking forward to watching a scene where Christian Bale goes around Wall Street collecting mugs in The Big Short 2: Polymer Boogaloo.

  • morto@piefed.social
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    Everyone has microplastics, even newborn babies, and we have no sign of decrease in its use.

    • Aitolda@lemmy.world
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      We must become one with the plastic. It’s the only way.

  • GraniteM@lemmy.world
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    Don’t forget about PFAS!

  • SkyNTP@lemmy.ml
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    OP, you are in for a seriously rough time if you think containing micro plastics is as simple as removing lead from gasoline and paint.

    • Ech@lemmy.ca
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      Nobody said it would be.

  • KarlHungus42@lemmy.world
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    Luckily, for the younger generations, we’ll probably just get cancer instead of becoming massive malleable assholes

  • lordnikon@lemmy.world
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    And the person responsible for both issues is the same dude Roy J. Plunkett

  • the_trash_man@lemmy.world
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    Every generation alive has microplastics in them

    • SidewaysHighways@lemmy.world
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      and probably will for at least a few generations unless we can do some major filtering of all mediums

    • stupidcasey@lemmy.world
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      And literally nothing came of it, this whole thing is fear mongering and political theater.

  • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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    Pffft! … at least microplastics take decades or a lifetime of accumulation to affect your body, mind and health

    Social media rots your brain and mental capacity in a matter of years or months

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